Tag Archives: warped tour 2015

Sidenote: I apologize for the time I’ve spent away from blogging. I’ve missed it intensely, but with Finals Week and working for the majority of my days, I feel like my brain has been on lockdown (that calendar up there? Yeah, that’s how I felt!). Yes, writing requires a brain, and no, when I’m tired, I cannot write. Writing can’t be forced. I know you’ve missed me immensely (I kid, but some of you said you have, so I’ll take your word on that!), and I’ve freakin’ missed you, too, so I’m glad that everything is finally settling again so I can continue to do what I love!

So let’s get to it. My personal, relatively brief review of Warped Tour 2014 at West Palm.

Yesterday (July 26th, 2014), I attended Warped Tour 2014 in West Palm Beach, Florida for what felt like the millionth time! I’ve been legitimately going to Warped Tour for 10 years of my life and have never been disappointed. Not the rain nor the lightning I’ve experienced, the kick in the head that I endured from a crowd surfer, the rubbing of my sweaty clothes pasted to my skin with mud and dirt and whatever else I had accumulated from moving from one stage to another, the period-blood-covered bathroom stalls, or the large-and-in-charge, sweaty men in the crowds rubbing their sticky moobs on my back could ever make me love Warped Tour any less. Actually, believe it or not, all the crap that comes with it makes it a million times better. It’s grimy, sweaty, expensive, and busy beyond belief (running from one stage, to a meet and greet, to the next stage is like running a marathon, weaving through thousands of people walking at a crawling speed), but I count the minutes down until I can come back again. Nothing is like Warped Tour. I’ve fallen into such a deep, passionate love with Warped Tour that I don’t think any man could match up (again, just kidding, but it is rad). I’m committed to this heavenly experience.

As you probably already know, I am a huge fan of the alternative-rock band, We the Kings, so they were responsible for a great deal of the excitement I had in going to Warped this year. I’ve seen them around 5 or 6 times live, even back when they were a somewhat smaller, less known band playing at Revolution in Fort Lauderdale, and they have always put on an exceptional performance. They were one of the first performances that I saw yesterday, as they had been put on the early side of the schedule. I had managed to strategize that, if I got to the front or close to the front during Breathe Carolina (which was also a million times better than I expected, because I had not seen them live before!) which was the performance that preceded them, that I would be able to glue myself down in the front during the We the Kings performance. So I shoved some elbows in peoples’ faces (sorry, I’m too excited for my own good) and apologized incessantly for doing so, and got close enough to basically feel Charles’ breath. Mhmm creepy. But I was close. If there were rows in the very front (in the standing area in front of the main stage at Cruzan Amphitheater), I would’ve been in around the second row. Their performance started with all of the band members coming out, one by one, surrounded by their friends and family on stage, which I thought was really sweet and humble of them. It’s so great to see them perform after watching all of the band member’s vlogs on Youtube for so long. At that point, you feel as if you know them much more than you actually do. The crowd was entranced by the music and I certainly wasn’t excluded from this. I adored every single sweaty moment, jammed in the front so tight that I couldn’t bring my arms down in between songs (it felt like arms day). I ended up catching a guitar pick from Colie at the performance, which left me explosively happy and bubbly. I had been wanting a pick or drum stick since the first time I saw them perform so this was a major concert milestone. I was elated. The whole performance was phenomenal. The only thing I was legitimately disappointed about was that I did not meet a single band member this time around. I was looking forward to meeting Danny and Lindsay or Charles and Allie, but I think I might’ve come to the tent too late. Maybe I’ll run into them next time around.

I did, however, finally get to meet the genius behind “Art of War” one of We the King’s more recent songs and one of my all time favorite songs, Taylor Clark. He is the equally talented and awesome brother of Travis Clark, the frontman of We the Kings. He was very sweet and I felt awful for knocking him off guard like I did. When I saw him, I practically jumped right into conversation mode, asking for a picture and talking his ear off I assume. He was very handsome and kind enough to let me stop him up while he was heading in the opposite direction, but that definitely contributed to the happiness of my day. (I can’t even fathom how I look “clean” in this picture. This was taken in the middle of the Florida heat, midday, so that’s an accomplishment in itself!)

Another performance that I found to be notable was the performance by the reggae-rock band, Pacific Dub. They’re not as large as some of the other bands, but their stage presence is incomparable. The combination of the vocals and the instruments, the energy of the band members, and the reactions of the crowd was incredible. They had such a happy, mellow presence. I had met them after the show to tell them about how great their set was, and I ended up getting a few extremely photogenic pictures with them and had a lengthy conversation with the lead vocalist of the band, Colton Place. He exuded charm and charisma. They were all really chill, humble guys, and were happy to sign merch and meet with their fans. It was refreshing to see a band that was as personable as they were and I have the full intention of seeing them again soon (perhaps when they come up to Orlando?). Their second impression on me was just as good as their first.

Later, I headed back to the main stage to check out Yellowcard because I had been listening to them significantly more lately and managed to learn all of their most popular songs while away at college (it’s a process to learn even the most popular ones!). I had all the words ready to be sung! I thought their performance was great at the least, however I felt like they had implemented some negative energy really early by calling people out for being tired during their show. It’s an all-day concert. The people who attend Warped Tour, unlike the ones who perform and can slip back into their air-conditioned buses when they need to, are stuck outside all day. I’m not complaining about being outside for the concert because I enjoy that aspect, but I thought it was out of line to bring that kind of negativity into the show. It shouldn’t bother bands that much if some people in the audience are tired after an entire day of running back and forth between stages, and it doesn’t bring new fans to the stage if one of the first statements that come out of a band member’s mouth is that these people should “get to the back so the real fans can come forward”. Get a grip. It left a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the set.

Despite the little things that bugged me, I found the whole experience of Warped Tour this year to be just as enchanting as the ones before it and I urge all of you music lovers to give Warped a go if you haven’t already. This tour provides so many opportunities to see a multitude of bands with different music styles in a comfortable, low-key environment. The bands are often walking around amongst the crowd (which doesn’t happen often in other venues or tours) and there’s so much to check out while on foot. They have a ton of merch tents manned by band members, pretty decent food for such a busy venue (it’s still a little on the pricey side, but I’m used to bringing my own food), and open areas to roam and watch the bands. I’d have to say that this year’s tour was in my top five of the ten years that I’ve gone. Until next year, my love!